Be sure to watch in 1080p!
Upper Greasewood Draw is a canyon that is worth doing at least once. It wasn’t as fun as Upper Three Fingers Canyon which is just to the North of this one, but is still a good one to check off your list. There are 5 mandatory rappels and a bunch of down climbs. The 4th rappel is a 2-stage rappel using the anchor at the top. We had a 115ft rope and ended up needing to tie 50ft of webbing to one end to make a pullcord to get down the second tier. It barely was long enough. I’m estimating you need at least 85ft of rope plus another 85ft of pullcord to rappel that 2-stage rap. When the Canyon opens up and you can see out over the Reef it’s time to exit out on the left side of the canyon and work your way back to the car.
I shot this video with my GoPro HERO3 Black Edition camera at 1080p at 30fps and edited with iMovie. I had my GoPro mounted to my GoScope Extreme which is a telescoping pole and it works great with the J-Hook mount! Get your GoScope at http://go-scope.com.
Ram
Thanks for the view in. It was a canyon i tried to get friends to go with me for a few years, with no luck. Then they went without me. I am not much on taking a hint, i guess
It is 7 below zero here, so seeing the bare chested water plunges, gave me the shivers. Your buddy with the straw hat? He had the safest pack I have ever seen, with the helmet protecting it.
Is there a big drop beyond your exit that many are bypassing now? I guess i better find new friends to take me through this one.
Jeff you have a steady hand. How much does the whole stick/camera rig weigh?
Thanks again, Jeff
Jeff Guest
This was filmed back in August so the water was great! Yes there was a BIG drop off the reef at the end. It would be fun to go all the down the big drop, but would be a huge pain in the butt to set up a shuttle or to leave multiple ropes and ascend back up the reef.
The GoScope makes the camera steady, so it’s not to hard. The whole stick/camera rig doesn’t weigh much at all. Sorry I don’t have an exact weight total, but it’s not bad.
Jman was the only guy wearing a wetsuit which is funny because he rarely gets cold. I guess he thought the water was going to be really cold or just wanted to look hardcore with the wetsuit.
Ram, you are welcome to tag along with us if your friends don’t want to play with you. We would love to have your expertise and sense of humor in our group!
Ram
Yeah those long car shuttles. I still like to do them sometimes. Those long swaths across the maps! Nothing quite like it. I understand wanting to save the hassle. It gets done now on Fooling Around and other ones. Here is a fun, cover territory day for someone not adverse to a little car shuttle. Go down Straight Wash all the way to and through lower Eardley. The boulder hop will work you, but the big green tanks of water in the Hermosa sandstone layer, midday are seldom seen and worth the effort.
thanks for the invite. Expertise? Well i will bring the jokes and with some luck, a bit of comic timing anyway
Blake Merrell
Looks like a worthy canyon I will have to get out there sometime!
Jman
I wouldn’t say “worthy”….but…I like diversity. It breeds challenges and different situations to learn from. So, with that being said, it’s not a true slot at all, but definitely has it’s fun moments!
I’m sure if you could combine Upper Three Fingers and Upper Greasewood – then you would have a tiring, somewhat challenging, canyon system for beginners.
Ram
Jman. Were you in the video too? If so, who?
Ram (always below you, looking up)
Jman
I’m the downclimber that you see in most of those shots. And I’m wearing the wetsuit too. Which definitely wasn’t needed on this trip. And go figure, it was this same 2mm shortie I wore though Imlay last year in June.
Ha ha, about my quote which you love reposting. If you are in the military currently, you may have idea what it means. It correlates to my current job.
Ram
Got ya moving up front. You guys still have working knees! At least for the time being! Oh oh those hard landings.
OK I goggled the quote and the military and came up blank (aside from Murphy’s law). Point me the right way?